They could have reached out diplomatically and/or investigated while still providing their end of the bargain (which was no real strain on them)
Garrosh definitely doesn’t get off the hook for being a moron and getting angry and stubborn over being accused of something he didn’t do either.
The cata war was so, so avoidable.
Still a lot faster to walk through the Barrens, not to mention:
Why not do as they did? Two fronts are a lot harder to defend than one. The goal here was to push the Horde out of Ashenvale. The easiest way to do that would be to strike at their outpost near the border to Ashenvale, and then surround the forces still in Ashenvale. A lot better than attacking a single front, that would give the Horde every advantage.
And I must repeat: the Night elves owed the Horde nothing. Zilch. If the Horde wanted that lumber and food back, they should have sent diplomats, not soldiers. Until you have exausted every option, you have no excuse for war.
THE HORDE CAN’T EVEN BE DIPLOMATIC WITH EACHOTHER!
Carine and Garrosh had a fight to the DEATH over something they weren’t even responsible for…
Through hostile territory? When you basically need to siege TB to make sure they don’t flank you?
Don’t forget also Instead of investigating what happened, we’ll just blame the resource starved horde and than we’ll act like victims when the horde forcibly take said resources
It just such a stupid argument. “If they just kept giving us stuff, we wouldn’t have invaded.”
That’s extortion…
Not when the Kaldorei agreed to supply the horde essentially free and unlimited lumber and than cut off said deal without even bothering to investigate what really happened.
It wasn’t even free. It was straight up trade. Presumably the horde were sending metals or other materials.
Is Ashenvale the Horde’s ONLY source of lumber? Can’t get it from Theramore? Or The Forsaken or Silvermoon?
Yes. The barrens is literally a stone’s throw from Theramore. The way around would take much, much longer.
What do you think is better? Take the long way around, possible past orgrimmar, running the risk of getting attacked by the Horde navy, all in order to walk deep into Ashenvale, and fight on a single front, or:
Go through the barrens and pressure the Horde there, thereby forcing the Horde to stretch themselves thin trying to both defend and attack at the same time?
Ashenvale is literally in their backyard. Why go half way across the continent when your backyard is a massive forest?
Not when “starvation” and “famine” are the result of that ceasing of trade. The basic expectation that starving people will act rationally, and not try to “Eat the Rich” hording the essentials they need to even survive is foolish at best. And Garrosh did have a point. The fact that not only did the Alliance have a deathgrip on his people’s ability to prosper, but even survive … and could turn that shutoff valve off for something like the Wrathgate (which cost the Horde 4000 lives too) … would be enough to throw any potential treaties out the window with the Blues. Their treaties are worthless if the Horde has to starve to death to maintain them.
EDIT: Besides, if not for Blizz’s obsessive fixation on insulating the Blues from their own few acts of aggression … it was Varian that declared War on the Horde. Then Blizz came in with a BS treaty in between expansions just in time for Garrosh to break it…
Because that backyard is Sovereign territory, and invading it means world war.
Also, blaming the Kaldorei for not investigating what really happened…
After the Twighlight’s hammer attack, the Kaldorei looked over and likly saw that Carine and Garrosh were fighting to the death. I say that is a pretty big red arrow.
Sure. But the Barrens is also a very long desert/savanna where even the spots the horde haven’t reinforced are very deadly.
If you can’t keep your enemies out of your land, you don’t deserve to keep it. The Kaldorei couldn’t even rid themselves of the warsong clan, which is one of the smaller orc clans.
Not as deadly as a War with the Alliance. Which literally ended with a Horde civil war, and Ogrimmar being besieged.
I wouldn’t go that far. The Warsong being in Ashenvale is a legitimate grievance.
But really, this also comes down to why growing lumber magically is apparently a night elf secret that Tauren Cenarian druids aren’t taught how to do it.
At the end of the day, the Horde could have gotten their resources from elsewhere.
Instead the Horde did what they always did, wage war and pillage resources from their neighbors.
And doing what the Horde seems to also always do, fail to stand united and lose the war via civil war.
I think shipping lumber across the sea, or across the barrens, or via teleportation, is a far more practical operation.
I do not live far from an Indian Rez, Ill make sure to tell them.
I know, it was more a jab at the whole Savage Kaldorei should be able to solo everything I seen tossed around.
But you’re right, it is strange that the Tauren don’t have similar techniques.
Isn’t lumber given to the Night Elves by the Ancients? Druids can talk and make trees grow or reach places, but they can’t make plantlife appear from nowhere.